Recruitment and training practices during the American Civil War varied according to the year, the commanding officer, and between the opposing forces, but followed the same basic model. When the war began in 1861, both sides believed it would be a short conflict and easily won. They both realized they were wrong after the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) on 21 July 1861.

Union Officers at Washington, D.C. Unknown photographer (Public Domain)

A few months earlier, men on both sides eagerly volunteered for service. By 1862, however, when it was clear there was no end in sight, recruitment and training practices changed in the South when conscription was introduced and, in 1863, the North followed suit with the draft. Throughout the war, however, both sides followed similar policies regarding recruitment and training of troops.

Southern Recruitment & Training

Even before the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, the Confederate Army expanded through volunteers forming local companies in their hometowns, which then joined with others as state regiments. How well these soldiers were then trained depended entirely on the commanding officer. An efficient commander produced an effective fighting force.

Whether early or late in the war, recruits spent roughly two weeks in basic training & at drill.

By 1862, voluntary enlistment had fallen off, and in April of that year, the Confederate government passed the Conscription Act of 1862 mandating White men between 18 and 35 to enlist in the army (the ages were later expanded to between 17 and 50). Exemptions were possible, however. One could hire someone to go to war in one's place, and those who owned 20 slaves or more were automatically exempt, as were government workers or those considered essential in manufacture and industry.

Whether early or late in the war, recruits spent roughly two weeks in basic training and at drill. Many troops were sent into battle with the bare minimum of military discipline, and so the efficiency of the commanding officer in charge of training was quite important. Early in the war, there was no standard-issue weapon or uniform, and many of the Confederate soldiers at the First Battle of Bull Run carried their own weapons and wore either their own clothes or their old uniforms from the US Army.

Northern Recruitment & Training

After the fall of Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion – and this call was answered the same as Confederate President Jefferson Davis' had been in the South. Local authorities recruited from cities primarily (at first) and then outlying towns. When a recruiting officer had enlisted 100 men, they became a company and were sent for training, which lasted roughly two weeks.

The initial enthusiasm for the war fell off by 1863, and so Congress passed the Enrollment Act of 1863, establishing the first national draft. As in the South, wealthy men could hire a substitute to take their place or that of their son. After the Emancipation Proclamation came the War Department's 1863 Order allowing the recruitment and training of African American soldiers.

Recruiting Poster from the American Civil War Unknown artist (Public Domain)

Like their Southern counterparts, the quality of the new recruits depended almost entirely on the efficiency and leadership of the commanding officer at the training camp. Soldiers were drilled in marching, formation, weaponry, and the importance of military discipline. Initially, troops were armed with outdated weapons but later with more precise guns. Union troops were outfitted from the start with standard uniforms and equipment.

Memoirs of Rice C. Bull

Recruitment and training in the Union Army is addressed in one of the most important primary sources on the American Civil War – Soldiering: The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull. Rice C. Bull (1842-1930) was a 19-year-old man from Hartford, New York, who enlisted in the Union Army in August 1862. He became a member of the 123rd Volunteer Infantry Regiment recruited from Salem, New York, and saw action throughout the war, notably at the Battle of Chancellorsville (30 April to 6 May 1863) and during Sherman's March to the Sea (15 November to 21 December 1864).

Union Army Private Infantry Uniform Unknown artist (Public Domain)

Bull sent letters home to his family and kept a diary throughout the war, drawing on these to write his memoirs in 1913. The narrative was acquired by the Rensselaer County Historical Society of Troy, New York, and was edited by K. Jack Bauer and published in 1977. Since then, it has become highly regarded as one of the most accurate depictions of the life of a soldier in the American Civil War between 1862 and 1865.

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The following excerpt from Bull's memoirs details his enlistment and training at a camp outside of Washington, D.C. between August and September 1862. The text is taken from The Civil War: The North, edited by Thomas Streissguth, pp. 57-64, under the title First Days in the Union Army. Ellipses indicate text omitted for considerations of space and word count.

…The war had started a year before, and the period had been one of excitement and anxious waiting…Victories were few. We had met with so many military reverses that many feared that it would be impossible to reunite the country by force of arms. Thousands of boys like me felt a sense of duty to aid the Union cause for service in the Army…

I had often thought of enlisting, believing it to be my duty, but until then no opportunity had come for me to do so. Before this time, most of the recruiting had been from the large towns far from the country districts. Now a regiment was to be raised in our own county, and it would consist mostly of farmers and farm boys…

My parents were at first loath to give their consent, but they realized that it was a call to duty that could not be disregarded. After grave and prayerful consideration, they tearfully consented to my going. I know now how hard it must have been for them to give their approval.

On August 13th, 1862, I worked with my father in the oat field until noon gathering the grain; that afternoon, I went to Fort Ann and signed the papers that bound me to army service for three years, unless sooner discharged. I became a member of Company D, 123rd Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry.

That night, I stopped at the Battle Hill Hotel in Fort Ann. The next morning, in company with several others who were to be my comrades, I took wagon for Salem where the Regiment was being organized and would camp until it was ordered to some place for preliminary training…

By September 1st, recruiting was finished, and all the companies had full numbers. Physical examination was then made and nearly all passed and were accepted. Then we received our uniforms and most of our equipment which included old-fashioned Enfield rifles. They were ungainly pieces having the look of old age. We carried these guns for some weeks bur, before going into active service, they were exchanged for Springfield muskets, a much better weapon…

On September 4th, we were mustered into the service of the United States. Orders came at once for us to leave by train September 5th. The news of our sudden departure was known in every part of the county that night and, in the morning, thousands of the people were in Salem. I am sure the village never before or since had so great a throng of visitors.

The soldiers' relations, neighbors, and friends were there to give the boys their farewell word, their good-bye, their well wishes, and to see them off on their long journey. With many, it was to be the last farewell. It was not a happy day; it was a day of sadness.

Finally, late in the afternoon, we shouldered our knapsacks and marched to the train, the great crowd following us. Then there was the last handshake and kiss. The train slowly started. The people lining the track were so wrought with emotions that they found no voice to cheer. They silently waved their hands while we could see their faces filled with tears…

Late in the evening [on September 7], we left Baltimore, but not now in passenger cars. We were packed closely in cattle cars and a hot, sweaty, hungry lot of men we were. The only food we had was what many had left over in their haversacks brought from Salem. It was stale enough, but it was what we had to eat or nothing.

We were stowed away, as mercilessly as though we were dumb brutes, but our patriotic ardor was running high and not many complaints were heard. All seemed willing to suffer in the good cause. I managed, by a lot of strategy, to get in a horizontal position on the floor of the car and was weary enough to sleep well until morning.

I found, on waking up, we were in Annapolis Junction…From Annapolis Junction until we reached Washington, we saw camps scattered along the railroad, the men of whom came out to cheer us as we passed by. Near Washington, we found that a great camp of white tents seemed to surround the city.

About noon, our train was stopped outside the suburbs, about a mile from the depot. When we left the train, we were at once marched to the Soldiers Home for dinner. On reaching it, dinner was not yet ready and the whole Regiment was driven into and locked in an attached yard to wait until the dinner was ready. The yard was hardly large enough to hold the men and was the most filthy place I was ever in. It was roughly floored and actually crawling with vermin and rats which scampered in all directions.

We were in this hole nearly an hour before "dinner" was ready and then were marched to the dining hall and seated on rough board seats and at rough board tables, set with tin and iron plates and cups. We were hungry enough to eat almost anything, but this dinner was the limit. We had bread, no butter, salt pork, very salty, and a mixture called coffee which would defy anyone to tell by its taste whether it was tea or coffee. It must have been a mixture of both. Well, we ate because we were faint and had to, but I can tell you, it was a tough meal.

It was a notorious fact I found that the Soldiers Home in Washington was the worst conducted institution of its kind in the whole country. As Washington was the headquarters of the Army, and everything could be had in plenty, it would seem as though the first reception of our country's defenders should have been at least liberal. Surely it should not be indecent. In fact, it was not liberal or even decent at this feeding shed, which has become a hiss and byword with every soldier, and has been given the name of the "Soldiers Prison."…

On the morning of September 16th, we were ordered to pack up, strike our tents, and be ready to move at once. Before noon, we fell in and headed for the city. We marched by the capitol, went down Pennsylvania Avenue several blocks, then turning south, passed the Washington Monument. It was unfinished and looked like a chimney the construction of which had been abandoned.

Soon, we reached the Long Bridge over which thousands of our soldiers had crossed. Many of them would never return… From the bridge, we went in a south-easterly direction for two miles and halted near Fort Albany, one of the forts erected west of the Potomac for the defense of Washington.

The place selected for our camp was on rough, uneven ground, well covered with bushes and small trees. Before we could put up our tents, the ground had to be grubbed and leveled. This was a hard job, and it was two days before our camp was made in a satisfactory way.

We were surrounded with thousands of new troops, who as soon as they reached Washington, and location was provided, were sent to Arlington Heights to be drilled, disciplined, and prepared for their work as soldiers.

General Silas Casey was in command of this great training encampment. He was an old officer, a rigid disciplinarian, and was expected to give these new regiments a thorough training so that, after a few weeks, they could be assigned to active service at the front. When this was done, the new regiments would usually be sandwiched between older ones that had seen service.

Near us was a regiment from Massachusetts that had been well drilled by a competent Colonel. While we were at Arlington, they received orders to go to the front. Before they started, they were visited by President Lincoln, Secretary William H. Seward, and the two Massachusetts Senators, Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson. A great crowd of soldiers from the surrounding regiments gathered around the carriage of the visitor and, after cheering, called on the President for a speech.

He arose from his seat and spoke for five or ten minutes. He was very serious and tried to impress upon the soldiers the responsibility that rested on them, saying that it would be their efforts alone that would save the county. He looked thin and worn and one could see that he was troubled and anxious. He remained some time after he spoke so many of us had an opportunity to take his hand and have a word of greeting…

At this camp we were kept busy drilling…While there, we had one review, in which twenty regiments took part. As they were all new regiments, with full ranks and bright new uniforms, we made a fine show. But our marching was hardly up to standard. There was also picket duty on a line some two miles from the camp…

All were anxious to go on the picket line as it gave us a chance to visit some of the farmhouses located there where we could purchase a meal. This food seemed wonderfully good compared with our rations…

At Arlington, the pie bakers were legion, and it was amusing to see the boys line up to buy them as they were baked. They were so hungry they would stand in line for hours to get a pie which cost 25 cents. But it was at this camp that we passed through the childlike period of soldiering and became reconciled to our food and other conditions that we had to face in the service.

Our training period in the camp at Arlington lasted about two weeks. The weather was fine, we were becoming acclimated, and the health of the men was excellent. Every day we learned something, not alone military evolutions. We were learning by experience how to care for ourselves and how better to overcome the conditions we had to contend with, which we first thought almost unbearable and unnecessary. We were now becoming reconciled to discipline and commenced to realize that we were only being fitted for the work before us.

The morning of September 29th we struck our tents, packed our knapsacks and, by midday, were ready to move. About three in the afternoon, we started in the direction of Washington, crossing the Long Bridge at four. This was to be the last time we crossed the bridge until we crossed it to take part in the Grand Review of Sherman's Army three years later. Then, there were less than half of those with us on September 29th. The others had died in action or from disease or had left the service because of wounds or sickness.

After crossing the bridge, we marched to the railroad station to take a train to some place unknown to us. That night, we slept on the sidewalk as the train was not ready until seven the next morning. We left the city on flat cars, traveling slowly. There were many trains on the road, and we spent much of our time on sidings. Just as night came, we reached Frederick, Maryland. We stopped before entering the town and filed into the meadows where we were to spend the night…

There had been no way to prepare meals so all we had to eat after leaving Arlington had been the hardtack that we had in our haversacks. Our company cooks made us some coffee which we drank with what was left of our hardtack. I felt as hungry as if I had not eaten for I had not yet reached the soldierly perfection when two or three pieces of hardtack and coffee could be made to satisfy my hunger. We remained two days at Frederick, where we learned that we were soon to join the Army of the Potomac in the vicinity of Harpers Ferry.

The Army was expected to advance soon. October 4th, we took the train again and went to some station near Harpers Ferry. From there, we marched two or three miles from the Ferry. We were to remain here until assigned to some Division of the Army. We would then enter active service after being in the Army only one month. Thus early, and practically untrained, we were at the front waiting orders for active field duty.